Outline: 1. Open question to class: Word association with Criminal Law (Miro) 2. Wharton – Relative and Absolute Theories of Criminal Law -"What purpose has the State in punishing?" -Relative theories -Prevention -Public self-defence -“The individual has a right to repel an attack, and even to kill the assailant, it is argued, when his existence is imperilled; and so has the State; and as every crime threatens the existence of the State, by the State every crime may be punished. -The reformation of the offender -Terror -Penal justice as educative -What are Wharton’s critiques of each relative theory? -Absolute theory of criminal law -punitur quia pecatum est (punishment is to be inflicted because a crime has been committed” -“Penal justice … is a distinctive prerogative of the State, to be exercised in the service and in the satisfaction of the duty of the State, and rests primarily on the moral rightfulness of the punishment inflicted. 3. Feinberg – Expressive Function of Punishment -How do we define punishment? How do we distinguish punishments from other kinds of penalties (ex. failing a test or having your license suspended)? -‘Punishment is a conventional device for the expression of attitudes of resentment and indignation, and of judgments of disapproval and reprobation, on the part either of the punishing authority himself or of those ‘in whose name’ the punishment is inflicted. -Different functions fulfilled by punishment -Authoratitive disavowal: expression of condemnation by an authority -Symbolic nonacquiescence: failure to punish would mean condonation. The act of punishing would make it clear that the state is not involved or does not encourage the acts being done. -Vindicating the law: punishment “emphatically reaffirms” the law. Without punishment, the law would be “dead letter.” -Absolution of others; Punishment of one person for a crime relieves others of suspicion or blame. 4. The Punishment of Crime in the Philippines -Historical survey of crime and punishment in the Philippines. -Crime and punishment in the precolonial context -Barangays as primary political and economic units -Datu as the chief adjudicator -“The rank of parties involved in a criminal act greatly affects the adjudication: if the offended party belonged to a higher rank or if a case involved the datu himself or his family, heavier sanctions were expected. The blood relationship between parties can also affect the outcome of settlements. Cases were addressed through settlement, mediation, and adjudication. -Sanctions were mainly in the form of pecuniary fines. Capital punishment was not a common practice (usually only sentenced when the crime was committed against the datu.) -“The general avoidance of corporal and capital punishment can be attributed to the high regard for abled bodies as part of the labor force.” Dispensing Justice in the early Spanish Colonial Period -Spanish criminal law was the basis of the justice system in the period of Spanish colonization -however, local governors had the leeway to conform or not conform with Spanish law as the situation demanded. -increasing prevalence of corporal and capital punishment -Influence of the friars The Rise of the Prison The Age of Enlightenment - emergence of the prison as the primary institution for punishment -“transition from harming the body to rehabilitating the soul” -Enlightenment ideas of proportional punishment and criticisms of capital punishment. -Decline in corporal and capital punishment. Conclusion: -Common theme in all the readings: criminal justice systems are historically-bound and reflect prevailing and conested conceptions of "the good life" and "justice." Important to understand and interrogate those conceptions.
